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Chrissie Stewart
'Chrissie Stewart '(born June 27, 1990) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She serves as the lead vocalist, primary songwriter and occasional guitarist of the metal band Psycho. Stewart was born in Scottsdale, Arizona, to parents John Stewart, a country musician, and Erica Mitchell. She got into music at the age of 12, first listening to popular music. She first took up poetry and rap and was originally inspired by popular music she'd hear on the radio. Initially, she never expected to get anywhere with music. Stewart took up guitar at the age of 14, after being inspired by My Chemical Romance, the band she accredits most of her rock influence to. By the age of 15, she began writing offensive poetry, which she would record rap versions of. That same year, she formed a Duo with her friend Alyssa, called Aly & Chrissie, where she played acoustic guitar. This was around the time she began to delve into the post hardcore and metalcore scene, to which she improved her guitar skills and began to experiment with electric guitar. By the age of 16 she then joined the band 'Waffle Cone' alongside four of her highschool friends. The band started off with a hard rock sound, but their sound would only begin to grow heavier and heavier, changing their name to Doomsday in 2007. By 2008, her skills had improved remarkably and Doomsday began playing at local events. Some time during late 2008, Julie, the vocalist of another local band called Sleepy Rod watched Doomsday play at an event, and took an immediate liking to Chrissie, asking her to join a band she was working on. Julie was 5 years Chrissie's senior, and had already made an impact in the local scene, so Chrissie immediately expressed interest. The band began to grow exponentially in popularity, and signed to Chaos Records. Their debut album "Atmosphere" was a major success due to the band's aggressive, powerful sound, lead by Julie's unique voice, and surprisingly deep growls. In 2010, Julie left the band due to personal reasons, which left the band without a vocalist. The band was forced to go on hiatus, and several tours had to be cancelled. This put the band under a lot of stress, so they began to look for a new vocalist. After searching for several months with no success for a suitable replacement, Chrissie, whom admittedly had no technical knowledge singing knowledge, took it upon herself to learn how to sing in order to replace her former band mate on vocals. About 8 months of extensive training, she was named official vocalist for the band, and their first single "Mass Genocide" was a huge success. The song was Chrissie's first professional recording as a vocalist. Chrissie's promising vocals thrusted the band back into the spotlight, and critics praised her for her quick and successful transition from guitarist to vocalist. Personality & Life Experiences Chrissie expresses having been both despised and adored by peers throughout her childhood, up to adulthood. She grew up in a poor family, raised by her single mother in Mountain View, Missouri. At the age of 15 she became a regular alcohol drinker, discovering the substance through her boyfriend, who was 18 at the time, which he would help her obtain and sneak into her room. She also skipped school regularly and got in trouble often in class. She wrote several songs about her exes during her early music ventures. Chrissie enjoys street fashion, and she is a big fan of makeup and beauty. She has a PhotoGuru account with 10,000 followers, where she regularly posts photos of her cosplaying, or wearing different styles of clothing, costumes, and makeup. During March 2009, during Psycho's hiatus, Chrissie posted a video on her Youtube channel of her covering Linkin Park's "A Place For My Head", with her on guitar and vocals, her boyfriend and fellow bandmate Lex on bass, and a friend of hers named Joe on drums. The cover reached a quarter of a million views on Youtube and received overall very positive feedback. Vocal Profile Chrissie Stewart is a light lyric soprano possessing a 4 octave range, including the whistle register. As of their 2011 album "Escape", she demonstrates the ability of producing a wide range of screams and deep growls. Modeling Personal Conflicts & Controversial Acts In February 2009, Josh Beck from the band Sandstorm posted a controversial message on Facebook about Chrissie, which included a photograph of the two together at a Los Angeles club. Over Twitter in 2010, Marilyn Giacchi from Acid Bath was asked what she thought about different female metal vocalists. Marilyn is known for her particularly harsh and unpredictable opinions, and she responded by tweeting "Chrissie is a pop singer, singing for a metal band. I think the members should kick her out and let her start a pop career. Her image and voice are for pop, not metal." In response, Chrissie wrote a post on her blog in response to Marilyn's harsh criticism which read. "Marilyn was honestly one of my favorite vocalists, and she inspired me in a unique way, so reading that was truly hurtful. I've listened to Acid Bath since their first album, which I happen to own a limited edition copy of, and I know that her criticism of me wasn't THAT mean, but it just felt so disrespectful. Now I'm fully aware that I'm not Julie, and her voice was much lower than mine, and I get that. I've actually been told for years now that I could make it as a pop solo artist if I put in the effort because of my looks, and I get that too. But metal music is what I'm passionate about, not pop music. I didn't take the time to learn how to scream so that people could dis me by telling me I shouldn't lead a metal band, and I already had to work extra hard not only to fill in Julie's shoes, but also due to being a woman, and constantly being told since I was a teenager that metal is unfeminine or demonic, and losing the respect of family members because I've made a career out of it. Thank you so much Marilyn for your words, and thank you to everyone who agreed with her twitter post. You've lit a fire inside of me, and I am going to use the energy positively to create some of the best songs you've ever listened to. :) " Marilyn would later on respond to Chrissie's blogpost in an on-air interview, stating that she had great respect for Chrissie and didn't mean to hurt her feelings, and that she felt Chrissie was an incredible musician with great talent. However, Chrissie responded in an interview a month later stating that she didn't feel Marilyn's apology was sincere, and that she may have said it knowing of the negative backlash she received for it. Marilyn then responded in a later twitter post "Yeah yeah. I know that girl doesn't forgive me, and neither do her fans. I really do like her and I hope she lightens up!" Many people had weighed in their opinions on the situation, including Earl Pat of Lionsdale, and several other musicians. In another interview regarding the conflict, Chrissie added "Outside, maybe I come across differently to people, but inside I'm metal. Before I switched to singing, I played guitar for the band, and no one talked shit. All the sudden, our vocalist leaves the band, so I take it upon myself to become the face of the band, and let me remind you I had no idea how to sing before any of this. I worked my ass off tirelessly for 10 months while the band was on hiatus, and I know very well that if I was some random chick that wasn't already in the band, I would have been hated for replacing Julie. The point is people are way too disrespectful to hardworking musicians, and it's very hurtful and discouraging.